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polishing an airplane that has been alodined

sblack

Well Known Member
I am buying an airplane that has been alumiprepped, alodined and epoxy primed on the outside. Can I strip it and polish it? I have heard nasty rumours that I can't if the aluminum has been etched. Can anyone tell me what's true and what's not?

thanks. I posted this on the Painting thread, but I think it should probably be here.

Scott Black
Montreal
RV4 project
 
You might be able to polish it, but it will not be an easy chore. I would not know how much material would need to be removed to get past the conversion coating, but for sure, your cladding would be compromised to one degree or another.
 
I have a small strip on the wing of my (polished) airplane where I had sanded, alumiprepped, alodined and primed before I knew I wanted to polish it.

Trust me, you don't want to try this. Better to sell it and buy a finished but unpainted plane if it means a lot to you.
 
Hi Bob,

What was the problem? Just too much work? Or did you damage the clad?

Thanks for the reply. :-(
 
If it's just alodined and acid egded it's not a problem but if it was properly prepped for painting and scotch brite treated it is definitely not going to polish out.
Been there done that, Bob is right.
On my polished 8 I occasionally used acid edge before polishing and that turned out really nice but like Bob said, I too had a spot that had epoxy glue on it and in a weak moment I decided to remove it with light sanding and scotch brite. It never looked the same as the rest of the airplane.
Best advise I can give you, don't polish.
 
ok it sounds like the sanding or scotchbrite just eats into the clad too much. Drat. I wanted to make metal fairings to replace all the glass ones to make the airplane a bit unique, not to mention lighter. I do metal shaping as a hobby (english wheel etc). That's a shame. But I do appreciate your advice.

Scott
 
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